November 22, 2016

Sabah seeks amendment to Constitution on its status

The Sabah government agrees to submitting to the federal government a recommendation seeking an amendment to the Federal Constitution for the restructure of the states to reflect the status of Sabah and Sarawak as partners in the formation of Malaysia, said Chief Minister Musa Aman.

He said the proposal merits consideration for the good and benefit of the people and the state.

“We (the state government) will accept any suggestion that is good and benefits the people and the state.

“If we seek to do so, the recommendation of the Honourable Member (Assemblyman for Usukan) will be forwarded to the relevant technical committee and steering committee and onward to the federal government and the prime minister,” he said in the state legislative assembly.

Musa was replying to a supplementary question from Salleh Said Keruak (BN-Usukan), who is the federal communications and multimedia minister, in the house.

Salleh said the restructure would clearly reflect the status of Sabah and Sarawak, that is Category A for the states in the peninsula and Category B for Sabah and Sarawak.

Sabah and Sarawak, he said, were partners in the formation of Malaysia and not just one of the states in the country.

“This is to determine the situation that it is in line with the formation of Malaysia,” he said.

Earlier, Musa said the state government supported the establishment of the federal-level committees, namely the Technical Committee and Steering Committee, to study the rights of Sabah as a whole under the Federal Constitution pertaining to Sabah’s revenue rights, the Malaysia Act and the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

The committees were established following the inaugural meeting on the devolution of powers to Sabah and Sarawak held in Kuala Lumpur last June, chaired by Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.

Musa said the state government was of the opinion that any revision of the state’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Federal Constitution should be done on a government-to-government basis.

“In addition, the role of the committee, chaired by Sabah Special Tasks Minister Teo Chee Kang, particularly to look into the special grants in accordance with Part Four of the 10th Schedule of the Federal Constitution, has been expanded as a whole to represent the state government and to report to the Sabah Cabinet,” he said.

Musa was replying to a question from Dr Jeffrey Kitingan (Star-Bingkor) on the stand of the state government on the restoration of Sabah and Sarawak as stated in Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to their original status.